


A Story About Christmas

by IconicSans



Category: Christmas - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Gen, Heartwarming, LGBTQ, Other, Progressive, Seasonal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21917515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IconicSans/pseuds/IconicSans
Summary: Just a short little piece that I had floating around my head this last week.  Short, with some sadness and adorableness mixed in.
Relationships: Original Character/Original Character





	A Story About Christmas

Nicole was late for work again. Not that it was her fault.

She'd woken up 2 hours early, ready to finish her last day on the job on a positive note before the end of the year. But, like always, life had different plans. The shower head had broken off as soon as she had gotten in ... the tea had been too hot (as her numb tongue now complained to her) ... Mistress, her cat, had barfed all over the doormat ... and now she was driving out of the gas station dripping wet, because she'd forgotten to refill the tank the night before the only rainy day of the month ... and it was the day before Christmas. 

So, fully aware of the beating she was going to get from her boss for being an hour late, Nicole drove to the tall high-rise building that housed the software firm she worked at. Tracking water all the way to the time card desk, she tried to mark her arrival time as fast as possible, but she was too slow, as she heard from behind her, "What the fuck! I specifically remember telling the entire team yesterday to not be late today. Because what is today, Nicole?"

Her boss waited for her response. Still turned towards the time table, Nicole mumbled, "Deadline day."

"That's right Nicole, it's _deadline day_. The day that most of our clients want the final versions of their products, so they can start the new year with fresh, efficient websites, optimized libraries, fast graphics engines, and a timely delivery. So why then are you walking in like the hot mess of a mermaid you seem to have become this morning?"

Nicole cleared her throat and sighed. "Rick, please, everything went wrong thi-", but her boss cut her off.

"I don't want to hear it, Nicole, I just want some communication, that's all. A text would be nice. I' _ll be running a little late today, shit hit the fan at home. Don't worry, I'll still work my eight hours._ That's all I'm asking for, Nicole. Can you promise me to do that starting next year?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's hope so. We already had our staff meeting, so just read the summary in the email and get to work."

Her boss walked back to his office and closed the door, indicating that everyone who had been listening to her get grilled should also get back to work. She walked over to her desk and sat down, sighing again as she booted her computer. At least she hadn't been fired. That had been her worst fear on the drive over. Rick was a good guy, but he was known for his temper when his employees were anything but loyal to their jobs.

So, with that out of the way, Nicole tried to work as fast as possible to make up for her tardiness. But alas, the rest of the day was more of the same. Someone found a bug in the project they had been working on for three months and which was supposed to be delivered to their biggest client by the end of the week. Not a minor glitch like a number being wrong or something not displaying properly. No, it was a flaw in the main engine, oh, and it was from Nicole's work. So she had to sit through another set of insults and harsh words from the project manager during the first 30 minutes of her lunch break, after which she didn't feel much like eating.

After returning from her lunch break and somehow, unbelievably, miraculously, she found a workaround to the programming problem, it was time for the office Christmas party, or the _Winter Celebration_ as HR had dubbed it (they were a non-denominational workplace now). Nicole managed to eat a little bit more at the party, while talking to her work friends and boss about what they were going to during the holidays. Rick and his husband were taking a vacation to Canada, and several of her co-workers were going out to eat after work that day. They had invited Nicole to come with them, but she had declined because...

"Sorry guys, I'm going on a date tonight," she had told them with a shy smile, which got a good roar of approval from the group.

Ron, the head graphic designer of the art team, was laughing to himself. "God damn, I didn't know you actually _dated_ people. I thought you were just, like, the nicest person in the world and made friends with everyone, and romance wasn't for you." He paused, then, "So... you think you'll like them? I'm assuming it's a first date, right?" Again, she stunned her friends with her next revelation.

"Actually, we've been dating for about 8 months. But this is the first Christmas we've spent together, so it's kind of special."

Not even a sound this time, just open mouths and blank stares.

Finally, Ron piped up again. "Well damn, looks like we don't know as much as we thought about the nicest, kindest, and _latest_ member of the team here." This got a few more laughs from the group, and Nicole was starting to feel a little better about the day when her boss looked up from a text he had been reading and announced that there had been one final modification to the specifications, and that the party was over because it would take them the rest of the day to finish it in time. So Nicole was back at her desk, working like a madman to finish the entirely new interface she had been given from the project manager.

Two hours before the normal closing hours, she heard her phone vibrate from her pocket. It was a text from her date tonight. It read, "Hey babe, just checking in. I'm just thinking about how much I love you, and how much I'm gonna love seeing you in that sexy dress I tried to convince you to not buy because it was expensive as all fuck. But anyway, see you later <3"

Nicole half groaned/half laughed as she responded with, "I'm looking forward to it too <3\. I might be a little late though, I got to work late today and there's a lot of changes that still need to be made before I can clock out. See you later babe."

She tried to get it all done before the end of the day, but it just wasn't possible. 5 o'clock came and went, and there was still more work left. 6 o'clock came and went. 6:30 came.

"Hey babe, I'm getting ready now. Are you gonna be done soon? I know you know our reservation is at 7:30. Love you <3."

Everyone had already left, so there was no one to yell at her for being on her phone on company time. She replied right away. "Might be done in time. Save me a seat <3."

7:00 came, and at 7:02, Nicole found another bug that needed to be fixed. "Hey babe, found another bug. This shit never ends."

"No worries, just take your time and figure it out, like you always do <3\. I'll order you something for when you get here. I love you :)"

7:30 didn't even register to Nicole, and by the time it was 8, she had finally fixed the bug and the application seemed to be in a stable state. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see 5 texts and one missed call. _Fuck._

They had been planning this date for weeks. They had gone shopping together, gotten outfits together, found a restaurant they both liked... and now it was being ruined by her crummy morning and the fates that always had it out for her. She couldn't muster the energy to reply. Her back hurt from sitting all day, her fingers stung from smacking a keyboard all week, and now her eyes were blurry from the tears that were welling up as she thought about how much she had wanted this day to go well.

When she could work no further, find no more errors glaring red in tiny letters, she saved the final version of the program and submitted it to the project review board. She would deal with whatever else they found wrong with it after the holidays were over. On her way out of the elevator in the lobby, she saw her boss standing by the doorway, talking to someone on his cellphone. She tried to make it out of the building without having to stop and talk, but she heard her name being called from Rick's direction, so she slowed down and walked over to where he was standing, trying her best to hide the tears that were leaking out with her hair.

"Listen, Nicole, I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning. I know you don't mean to be late, but it just gets kind of irritating sometimes when it happens again and again. Hopefully it wasn't too bad of a day? I-"

Nicole couldn't take it anymore. She had looked up, and simply stared at Rick for several seconds, which seemed to silence him.

"Fuck you."

Rick didn't respond.

"I tried so hard to make today a good day. You know how hard it is for me to get up on a bad day? I think to myself, I'm so lucky to have a good job, and someone who loves me, and I'm just going to fuck it up by being late every day. Good job Nicole, way to make everyone wait for you. Way to be annoying to all your friends. Today, I didn't think those things. I thought I could work on being happier during the holidays. But no. I was late again, and you made me look ridiculous in front of everyone, and I had to stay late to fix everything, and my date is waiting for me while our food gets cold, and I just-"

She turned away. She couldn't go on, it was too painful. Great, she was full on sobbing now.

"Nicole, I-"

She whipped around again. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK Y-", the words weren't coming out anymore. She had started hiccuping.

She was out of the door before she even realized she had started walking. She crossed the street and found her car in the parking structure as best she could while wiping the tears out of her eyes. When she reached her car and had closed the door, Nicole pulled out her buzzing phone and answered it in her calmest voice possible. It was 9:15 pm.

"Hello."

"Hey, are you doing okay? You've been quiet for a few hours."

Nicole tried to keep the quiver in her voice away. "I- I- I'm done with work now. I had a hard day. I-." She couldn't hold it back as she started to cry again.

She heard the voice on the other end soften. "Hey, listen, it's ok. The food here kind of sucks anyway, so you didn't miss much. Listen, the night's still young. We can do something else now that you're off of work. How does that sound?"

But it didn't sound like anything. She was crying so hard now, not much else was registering. "I just want today to END. I hate that I'm always late to everything. I hate that I'm always depressed, all the time. You're the only good thing in my life, and I'm messing that up too! I'm sorry... I just want to go home."

She hung up, and drove home, eyes stinging the whole way. When she opened the door, Nicole was greeted by a meow and a furry leg rub, which she immediately ended as she jerked her leg away. She went to the bathroom where the shower head was still lying on the tub floor and tried to wash her face, but somehow just ended up getting her hair more wet. So she put on her coat and went outside for a walk instead, letting the cool December air dry her hair. She made her way over to the local park and did a few laps on the wet grass before laying down on a wooden bench and closing her eyes, just trying to keep her breathing steady. She tried to remember what her therapist had told her to do if her anxiety started acting up. She started counting, slowly and deliberately. One, two, three, four, ...

She must have fallen asleep for a short while, because the next thing Nicole was aware of was someone trying to carefully sit down on the bench close to her head. She sat up from her sleeping position and took a few seconds to let her eyes adjust to the low light from the nearby street lamps. Oh.

"Hey, I thought I'd find you here." Reina sat there, looking at her with the softest expression Nicole had ever seen. What she had done to deserve such a kind, caring, and overall beautiful human as a girlfriend, she had yet to discover. She loved her so much, and she had ruined their special night.

Nicole tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a cough in the end. "Yeah, I guess you know me pretty well then. Why are you here, anyway? I thought you'd be mad at me for ditching you for my crummy job." A cool breeze settled into the night air, and Nicole shivered slightly. Reina scooted closer and wrapped her arm around Nicole's shoulder.

"Well, I know you don't do well under stress. I know you really wanted to have a good day today, and that you wanted to make it to dinner. And I know how you are, that you're always down on yourself for no reason, and I hate seeing you torment yourself when I know you're also the smartest, sweetest, most beautiful girl on the planet, and I'm lucky enough to be dating you. All of that, plus I know you like to take walks around the park when you're upset. So I drove over here and found you sleeping on a bench."

Reina had a stupidly pretty smirk on her face when Nicole turned to look up at her from where her head was resting on her shoulder.

"That sounds so lame when you say it like that." Nicole let out a small laugh. "Also, you make me sound so much better than I actually am."

"Nonsense. Who the fuck cares about a restaurant that charges 20 dollars for a glass of wine, or a shitty boss who doesn't know you, or the fact that you get sad sometimes? That stuff doesn't mean anything to me. All I care about is that you stay healthy, and have some loyal ass friends who stay by your side." She puffed up her chest as she said that, and Nicole couldn't help but find it very hilarious, and grinned at her goofy girlfriend.

"Ugh, why are you so god damn adorable all the time? It should be illegal, you know that? I-lle-gal." She punctuated the word and poked Reina in her thigh as she said it. Reina let out a chuckle and gave Nicole the biggest hug in the world. And she hugged back. Not because she was cold anymore, that had gone away. She hugged back because she was in love, and with their hair getting tangled together, Reina's smell made her feel at home for the first time that day. 

To top it all off, Reina whispered in her ear, "I still wanna see you in that dress though, when we get home."


End file.
